Requirement management and axiomatic design

There are three main objectives of requirements management; one is to capture the requirements right, the second one is to manage changing requirements, and the third one is to align the system development lifecycle activities with the requirements to make sure that the requirements are met and gold plating does not happen. Achieving the first objective depends on the structure and effectiveness of the requirements gathering and validation methodology whereas achieving the second and third objectives depends on the ability to establish and maintain a connection between the elicited customer needs, the requirements and constraints derived from these needs, and the subsequent artifacts in which these requirements are realized. Axiomatic Design methodology aims at establishing a scientific base for design and improving design activities by providing the designer with a theoretical foundation based on logic and rational thought processes and tools. This paper will present a "quantitative requirement quality" concept based on requirement quality factors, provides a template for requirement description based on requirements attributes and incorporates these into and extended Axiomatic Design approach for better requirements management. The purpose of this paper is to support the first objective of requirements management as well as to provide a solid foundation for the second and third objectives since these two objectives cannot be achieved without a structured product development lifecycle approach.